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An-Nasir Yusuf ( ar, الناصر يوسف; AD 1228–1260), fully al-Malik al-Nasir Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn
al-Aziz Abu Mansur Nizar ( ar, أبو منصور نزار , Abū Manṣūr Nizār; 10 May 955 – 14 October 996), known by his regnal name as al-Aziz Billah ( ar, العزيز بالله, al-ʿAzīz bi-llāh, the Mighty One through God), was the fifth ...
ibn
al-Zahir Abū Nasr Muhammad ibn al-Nāsir ( ar, أبو نصر محمد بن الناصر; 1175 – 11 July 1226), better known with his regnal name al-Zāhir bi-Amr Allāh ( ar, الظاهر بأمر الله, , He Who Appears Openly by the Order of God) ...
ibn Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shazy (), was the Ayyubid Emir of
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
from his seat in
Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...
(1236–1260) and the
Sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...
of the
Ayyubid Empire The Ayyubid dynasty ( ar, الأيوبيون '; ) was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish origin, Saladin ...
from 1250 until the sack of Aleppo by the
Mongols The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal membe ...
in 1260.


Background

An-Nasir Yusuf was the great-grandson of
Saladin Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سه‌لاحه‌دین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt and ...
. He became the Ayyubid ruler of Aleppo when he was seven-years-old after the death of his father
Al-Aziz Muhammad Al-Aziz Muhammad ibn Ghazi ( – 26 November 1236) was the Ayyubid Emir of Aleppo and the son of az-Zahir Ghazi and grandson of Saladin. His mother was Dayfa Khatun, the daughter of Saladin's brother al-Adil. Al-Aziz was aged just three when ...
. He was placed under a four-man regency council, consisting of the
vizier A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was a ...
Ibn al-Qifti 'Alī ibn Yūsuf al-Qifṭī or Ali Ibn Yusuf the Qifti (of Qift, his home city) (), he was ''Jamāl al-Dīn Abū al-Ḥasan 'Alī ibn Yūsuf ibn Ibrāhīm ibn 'Abd al-Wahid al-Shaybānī'' () (ca. 1172–1248); an Egyptian Arab historian, biog ...
, the emir
Shams al-Din Lu'lu' al-Amini Shams al-Dīn Luʾluʾ al-Amīnī (died 3 February 1251) was one of the regents of Aleppo for the Ayyūbid ruler al-Nāṣir Yūsuf and later his chief advisor and the commander-in-chief of his armies. He dominated the government of al-Nāṣir fr ...
, the emir 'Izz al-Din 'Umar ibn Mujalli and Jamal al-Dawla Iqbal. The last was the representative of an-Nasir's grandmother,
Dayfa Khatun Dayfa Khatun ( ar, ضيفة خاتون; died 1242) was Ayyubid princess, and the regent of Aleppo from 26 November 1236 to 1242, during the minority of her grandson An-Nasir Yusuf. She was an Ayyubid princess, as the daughter of Al-Adil, Sult ...
, daughter of
Al-Adil I Al-Adil I ( ar, العادل, in full al-Malik al-Adil Sayf ad-Din Abu-Bakr Ahmed ibn Najm ad-Din Ayyub, ar, الملك العادل سيف الدين أبو بكر بن أيوب,‎ "Ahmed, son of Najm ad-Din Ayyub, father of Bakr, the Just ...
, who was the effective ruler until her death in 1242. Thereafter until his death in 1251, Shams al-Din was an-Nasir's commander-in-chief and most influential advisor. His most loyal troops were the Qaymariyya, upon whose emirs he relied heavily for advice.


Conflict with Egyptian Mamluks

In 1250, when the Ayyubid sultan of
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
as-Salih Ayyub died and his son Turanshah was murdered by the
Bahri Mamluks The Bahri dynasty or Bahriyya Mamluks ( ar, المماليك البحرية, translit=al-Mamalik al-Baḥariyya) was a Mamluk dynasty of mostly Turkic origin that ruled the Egyptian Mamluk Sultanate from 1250 to 1382. They followed the Ayyubid ...
of Egypt,
Shajar al-Durr Shajar al-Durr ( ar, شجر الدر, lit=Tree of Pearls), also Shajarat al-Durr (), whose royal name was al-Malika ʿAṣmat ad-Dīn ʾUmm-Khalīl Shajar ad-Durr (; from her nickname , 'mother of Khalil'; died 28 April 1257), was a ruler of Eg ...
(widow of as-Salih Ayyub ) seized the throne of Egypt. An-Nasir Yusuf, being an Ayyubid, refused to recognize Shajar al-Durr as the Sultana of Egypt and, as a sign of support, the
Emir Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cerem ...
s of
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
granted him the city of Damascus, in Syria. Alarmed by these developments, the Mamluk leaders in Egypt decided to replace Shajar al Durr with the Atabek (commander in chief)
Aybak Izz al-Din AybakThe name Aybeg or Aibak or Aybak is a combination of two Turkic words, "Ay" = Moon and "Beg" or variant "Bak" = Emir in Arabic. -(Al-Maqrizi, Note p.463/vol.1 ) ( ar, عز الدين أيبك) (''epithet:'' al-Malik al-Mu'izz Iz ...
. In October 1250, An-Nasir Yusuf sent forces to Gaza to conquer Egypt and overthrow Aybak, but Egyptian forces led by
Faris ad-Din Aktai Faris al-Din Aktay al-Jamdar ( ar, فارس الدين أقطاى الجمدار) (d. 1254, Cairo) was a Turkic- Kipchak Emir (prince) and the leader of the Mamluks of the Bahri dynasty. Biography When the Ayyobid Sultan as-Salih Ayyub died Ak ...
defeated them. In January 1251, an-Nasir Yusuf led another army to Egypt and clashed with Aybak's army in a significant battle with Yusuf's defeat. He fled back to Damascus, though some of his soldiers who could reach Cairo spread the initial impression inside Egypt that Yusuf had won the battle. Later when the news of Aybak's ultimate victory arrived, the soldiers and their commanders were arrested, and Aybak sent back the soldiers, some 3,000 in number, to Damascus on the backs of donkeys. In 1253, through mediation of some Emirs, an accord was reached between an-Nasir Yusuf and Aybak which gave the Egyptians control over Gaza,
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
,
Nablus Nablus ( ; ar, نابلس, Nābulus ; he, שכם, Šəḵem, ISO 259-3: ; Samaritan Hebrew: , romanized: ; el, Νεάπολις, Νeápolis) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a populati ...
, and the coastline of
al-Sham Syria (Hieroglyphic Luwian: 𔒂𔒠 ''Sura/i''; gr, Συρία) or Sham ( ar, ٱلشَّام, ash-Shām) is the name of a historical region located east of the Mediterranean Sea in Western Asia, broadly synonymous with the Levant. Other s ...
. In 1254, another power shift occurred in Egypt, as Aybak killed
Faris ad-Din Aktai Faris al-Din Aktay al-Jamdar ( ar, فارس الدين أقطاى الجمدار) (d. 1254, Cairo) was a Turkic- Kipchak Emir (prince) and the leader of the Mamluks of the Bahri dynasty. Biography When the Ayyobid Sultan as-Salih Ayyub died Ak ...
, the leader of the Bahri Mamluks. Some of his Mamluks, among them Baibars al-Bunduqdari and Qalawun al-Alfi, fled to an-Nasir Yusuf in Syria, persuading him to break the accord and invade Egypt. Aybak wrote to an-Nassir Yusuf warning him of the danger of these Mamluks who took refuge in Syria, and agreed to grant him their territorial domains on the coast, but an-Nasir Yusuf refused to expel them and instead returned to them the domains which Aybak had granted. In 1255, an-Nasir Yusuf sent new forces to the Egyptian border, this time with many of Aktai's Mamluks, among them Baibars al-Bunduqdari, and Qalawun al-Alfi, but he was defeated again.


Relations with Crusaders

An-Nasir had contact and correspondence with the European
Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...
, and tried to reach an accord with the barons of
Acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...
. He indirectly suggested to King
Louis IX of France Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the ...
the possibility of surrendering
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
to Louis, in return for assistance in conquering Egypt. But Louis, who had already lost an army in Egypt during the Seventh Crusade and was still trying to free his imprisoned soldiers, was not willing yet to make such a deal. Louis did, however, send his royal armorer to Damascus to purchase materials to make crossbows, and in 1254, An-Nasir signed a truce with the Crusaders.


The Mongols

The Egyptian ruler Aybak was murdered in 1257 and his young son
al-Mansur Ali Al-Mansur Ali ( ar, المنصور على, ''epithet'': ''al-Malik al-Manṣūr Nūr ad-dīn ʾAlī ibn Aybak'', Arabic: ) (b. c. 1242, Cairo) was the second of the Mamluk Sultans of Egypt in the Turkic, or Bahri, line. Some historians, however, ...
, only 15 years old, became the new sultan, with Qutuz as vice-sultan. The following year (1258) the Mongols led by
Hulagu Khan Hulagu Khan, also known as Hülegü or Hulegu ( mn, Хүлэгү/ , lit=Surplus, translit=Hu’legu’/Qülegü; chg, ; Arabic: fa, هولاکو خان, ''Holâku Khân;'' ; 8 February 1265), was a Mongol ruler who conquered much of West ...
sacked Baghdad. Baibars al-Bunduqdari argued that an-Nasir Yusuf should mobilize his army and make preparations to fight the Mongols who were marching towards Syria. But instead, Yusuf sent his son al-Malik al-Aziz with a present to Hulagu, requesting Hulagu's assistance in invading Egypt. Hulagu's reply, however, was simply a warning that Yusuf should rapidly submit to Mongol authority. This answer frightened an-Nasir Yusuf, who at once sent a message to Egypt, requesting help.
Saif ad-Din Qutuz Saif ad-Din Qutuz ( ar, سيف الدين قطز; died 24 October 1260), also romanized as Kutuz or Kotuz and fully al-Malik al-Muẓaffar Sayf ad-Dīn Quṭuz (), was a military leader and the third or fourth of the Mamluk Sultans of Egy ...
, the vice-Sultan of Egypt decided to confront the Mongols. Arguing that Egypt could not face the approaching danger while ruled by a young boy, Qutuz proclaimed himself Sultan, and began to raise a large army, though he assured an-Nasir Yusuf that his action was only a temporarily measure till the danger of the Mongols was overcome. As the Mongols marched toward Aleppo, some of an-Nasir Yusuf's advisors recommended surrendering to Hulagu as the best solution. This angered Baibars and his Mamluks who attempted to assassinate an-Nasir Yusuf, but he escaped and fled with his brother to the castle of Damascus, also sending his wife, son, and money to Egypt. Many of the citizens of Damascus also fled to Egypt.


The sack of Aleppo

The Mongols arrived at Aleppo in December 1259. ''Turanshah'', the uncle of an-Nasir Yusuf, refused to surrender. After a siege of seven days, the Mongols stormed Aleppo and massacred its population for another five days. Turanshah left the city and died a few days later. When the news of the sack of Aleppo reached an-Nasir Yusuf, he and his army fled towards Gaza on January 31, stopping at
Nablus Nablus ( ; ar, نابلس, Nābulus ; he, שכם, Šəḵem, ISO 259-3: ; Samaritan Hebrew: , romanized: ; el, Νεάπολις, Νeápolis) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a populati ...
for several days and leaving a contingent which may have been intended as a rearguard. Damascus fell to the hands of the Mongols, under general
Kitbuqa Kitbuqa Noyan (died 1260), also spelled Kitbogha, Kitboga, or Ketbugha, was an Eastern Christian of the Naimans, a group that was subservient to the Mongol Empire. He was a lieutenant and confidant of the Mongol Ilkhan Hulagu, assisting him ...
, 16 days after the sack of Aleppo. The Emirs of Damascus surrendered without resistance. After the capture of Damascus, some of the Mongol troops raided Palestine, and fought with an-Nasir's troops in the olive groves of Nablus, defeating the entire force. Once arriving at the border with Egypt, some Emirs of an-Nasir Yusuf abandoned him and joined Qutuz. An-Nasir Yusuf, his son al-Aziz, and his brother al-Zahir were abducted in Gaza by one of his servants and were sent to Hulagu, An-Nasir and his brother were executed, after Hulagu heard the news of the defeat of the Mongol army at
Ain Jalut Ma'ayan Harod ( he, מעיין חרוד, lit=the Spring of Harod) or Ayn Jalut ( ar, عين جالوت ', lit. "the Spring of Goliath", formerly also and in Hebrew) is a Spring (hydrology), spring on the southern border of the Jezreel Valley, ...
by an Egyptian army led by Qutuz and Baibars on September 3, 1260.


See also

* Other Saladins


References


Citations


Bibliography

*
Abu al-Fida Ismāʿīl b. ʿAlī b. Maḥmūd b. Muḥammad b. ʿUmar b. Shāhanshāh b. Ayyūb b. Shādī b. Marwān ( ar, إسماعيل بن علي بن محمود بن محمد بن عمر بن شاهنشاه بن أيوب بن شادي بن مروان ...
, The Concise History of Humanity *
Al-Maqrizi Al-Maqrīzī or Maḳrīzī (Arabic: ), whose full name was Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-'Abbās Aḥmad ibn 'Alī ibn 'Abd al-Qādir ibn Muḥammad al-Maqrīzī (Arabic: ) (1364–1442) was a medieval Egyptian Arab historian during the Mamluk era, kn ...
, Al Selouk Leme'refatt Dewall al-Melouk, Dar al-kotob, 1997. *Idem in English: Bohn, Henry G., The Road to Knowledge of the Return of Kings, Chronicles of the Crusades, AMS Press, 1969. *Al-Maqrizi, al-Mawaiz wa al-'i'tibar bi dhikr al-khitat wa al-'athar,Matabat aladab,Cairo 1996, . *Idem in French: Bouriant, Urbain, Description topographique et historique de l'Egypte,Paris 1895 *''The New Cambridge Medieval History'' (Volume 5),Cambridge University Press 1968 *''O. Hassan ,Al-Zahir Baibars'', Dar al-Amal 1997 *''Britannica Concise Encyclopedia'', information about Ayyubid dynasty *''E.J. Brill'', Encyclopaedia of Islam 1954 *''H. Sadawi'', Almamalik, Arabic center for publications *''The New Encyclopædia Britannica'',1973 *''organ, David'', The Mongols, 1990. * *''
Ibn Khaldun Ibn Khaldun (; ar, أبو زيد عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن خلدون الحضرمي, ; 27 May 1332 – 17 March 1406, 732-808 AH) was an Arab The Historical Muhammad', Irving M. Zeitlin, (Polity Press, 2007), p. 21; "It is, of ...
'', history of Ibn khaldun * *''Peter N. Stearns'',The Encyclopedia of World History, Sixth edition, 2001 * Ibn Taghri, al-Nujum al-Zahirah Fi Milook Misr wa al-Qahirah, al-Hay'ah al-Misreyah 1968 * History of Egypt, 1382-1469 A.D. by Yusef. William Popper, translator Abu L-Mahasin ibn Taghri Birdi, University of California Press 1954 *''Coptic history Encyclopedia'', coptichistory.org *''Jaroslav Folda'', Crusader Art in the Holy Land, From the Third Crusade to the Fall of Acre, Cambridge University Press 2005 {{DEFAULTSORT:Nasir Yusuf 1228 births 1260 deaths 13th-century Ayyubid rulers Ayyubid emirs of Aleppo Ayyubid emirs of Damascus Medieval child rulers Muslims of the Seventh Crusade 13th-century Kurdish people